Crash is a test of EgyptAir’s mettle

The crash of EgyptAir Airlines Flight 804 into the eastern Mediterranean last week is the latest in a series of crises to hit the carrier. It will be the biggest test yet for EgyptAir Holding chairman and CE Safwat Mosallam, who took the role in March. The airline has demonstrated its ability to weather previous crashes and political upheaval. When tourism to Egypt dried up after the 2011 revolution, the airline successfully courted transfer passengers, ferrying them between Europe and far-flung places in Africa via its Cairo hub to offset the loss of tourism business. That reach also has kept the airline as a cornerstone of the Star Alliance, where other partners value EgyptAir’s reach into locations they don’t serve, a European airline official said. Still, much hinges on the outcome of the probe into the latest crash of the flight from Paris to Cairo. <br/>